Australia’s longest pre-stressed girders placed on Port Drive Upgrade

Australia’s longest pre-stressed girders have been successfully placed for the Port of Brisbane’s $110 million Port Drive Upgrade.

The record length components – with the longest span measuring 46 metres – are part of the duplication of the new Lucinda Drive Bridge.

Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd (PBPL) CEO, Roy Cummins, said the length was required to safely span the existing Queensland Rail lines, removing the risk and need for construction or future maintenance work associated with the new bridge within the rail line corridor.

“Our Port Drive Upgrade project is primarily focused on safety, efficiency and innovation. The design and placement of these Super I girders – being the longest on any road project in the country – achieves all of these,” said Mr. Cummins

“Port of Brisbane has worked closely with the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR), the project’s principal contractor, Seymour Whyte, and its designer, Arup, to design and develop the Super I girders, and is extremely proud of such a major engineering achievement.”

Mr. Cummins said the girders were cast in Bromelton, and due to their length, needed a major transport plan, which was developed with TMR, Seymour Whyte and QPS to transport them to the port.

“For safety, a 156 km transport route was agreed to avoid built-up areas and ensure the roads travelled could handle such large and heavy vehicles, and a limit was set of transporting only one girder each night,” he said.

“As a result, 13 40-metre-plus girders took an overnight journey (a total of 13 nights) of up to 9 hours on specially-designed and escorted 79 metre long haulage trucks to the Port of Brisbane. Four other 20 metre girders were transported during the day.”

The Port of Brisbane’s project also incorporates the placement of around 50,000 tonnes of EME2 asphalt and is addressing stormwater requirements through its Queensland-first offsite stormwater project in the Lockyer Valley.